Chicago Cubs’ Addison Russell reacts after hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning of Game 4 of the National League baseball championship series against the Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell (27) tags out Los Angeles Dodgers’ Justin Turner (10) at second base on a throw by catcher Willson Contreras in the first inning during game four of the National League Baseball Championship Series on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

LOS ANGELES >> He charged in, lunged mightily toward the sinking baseball and reached out with his desperate gloved hand.

It was going to take a miracle, certainly. But, hey, wasn’t it a miracle that the Dodgers, despite all their injuries and roster instability and reliance on relievers, were here in the first place?

Going all out in going all-in, Andrew Toles failed to catch Dexter Fowler’s drive. Yet, something miraculous happened anyway; the ball somehow didn’t hit Toles in the face. Instead, it narrowly missed his mug and skidded off his body, going for a double, the imperfect fielding also the perfect punctation Wednesday.

The stumbling moment capped a deflating fourth inning that made this would-be romp a series again and suggested that the Chicago Cubs actually might not be the worst 103-win team of all-time. The visitors scored four times in the fourth after not scoring in their previous 21 innings and eventually won 10-2 to even the National League Championship Series at two games each.

Following consecutive Dodgers shutouts in Games 2 and 3, the perception was this matchup was more mismatch, baseball having a way of looking hopelessly one-sided when one side can’t score.

But then a reminder arrived in Game 4, a reminder of how the Cubs reached those 103 regular-season victories and established a baseball-best plus-253 in run differential.

A reminder arrived, all right, like a slap in the face, which is why it was stunning that Toles didn’t take Fowler’s double off the chops. Nothing could have been more fittingly symbolic.

Well, maybe there was one thing: a bloodied Dodger, which might have happened, too, had Toles not been so lucky.

The rally that ignited an offense with a previously wet fuse began in the oddest, modest of ways, with the Cubs’ cleanup hitter bunting. But when you’re hitting .161 overall — which Chicago was entering Game 4 — and .106 against lefties — which the Cubs also were before Wednesday — you resort to things like having your cleanup hitter bunt.

Facing rookie left-hander Julio Urias, Ben Zobrist began the fourth with a single that traveled maybe 20 feet, his little nudge nestling into a place the Dodgers couldn’t quite reach in time. Javier Baez followed with a soft single to left and suddenly, for the first time since Game 1 of the NLCS, there was a sense the Cubs might be on the verge of producing something other than frustration for themselves.

Twenty-one innings? This team never had been shut out for so long in the postseason, a significant statistic since the Cubs, in case you’re unaware, have a history of playoff failure.

Then again, the Dodgers never before had put together consecutive postseason shutouts, and they once employed Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale at the time.

All the zeroes finally ended, though, when Willson Contreras provided Chicago with a third single in a row to score Zobrist, proof that starting small ball could development into something much bigger.

Because of a throwing error by Toles, the Cubs’ Jason Heyward was able to drive in the second run with a ground out, bringing up Addison Russell and his impossibly low .040 average this postseason.

Seriously, Russell came into the game with one hit in 24 at-bats and then flew out against Urias his first time up. To open the game, Chicago had a lineup that featured more position players (five) hitting below .200 than position players (three) hitting above .300 for the playoffs.

Those types of numbers normally apply to teams in a tie for last place, not in the hunt for a championship.

In the span of two miserable offensive games, the Cubs were a bunch being mocked as unfit for the NLCS and unlikely to find an answer before it was too late.

The public reactions were swift and harsh, as were the judgments, many analysts wondering if, with Clayton Kershaw looming Godzilla-like for a possible Game 5 start, Chicago was down to its last chance.

The game was universally accepted as a must-win for the Cubs, who, had they lost, I’m pretty sure would have shown up for Game 5 Thursday anyway.

Not that reality mattered, at least when compared to advancing a narrative about 108 years of nothing and cursed goats and all the rest.

Anyway, after a visit from pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, Urias offered up something Russell instantly turned into a two-run homer, and the Cubs were officially out of their slumber.

They would score six more times, running away and hiding after the Dodgers had closed the gap to 5-2 but could get no closer.

So now, the NLCS is square at two games apiece, remarkably even for a series that, just 24 hours earlier, seemed tragically tilted, perhaps beyond repair.

But fortunes can change quickly in a postseason series, as quickly as your average about-face.

Jeff Miller has been a sports columnist since 1998, having previously written for the Palm Beach Post, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald. He began at the Register in 1995 as beat writer for the Angels.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.